Fraud on the internet

Fake emails: “This is certainly not how the police operate”

Spam emails have been a problem that the police have had to deal with for years.(Bild: Krone Kreativ)

Around half of all emails now end up in our inboxes as spam. While the majority contains advertising content for erotic articles, dating agencies or medical products, spam has also become a significant part of cybercrime. Krone+ took a look at the fraudsters' scam based on its own experience.

Potency pills here, weight loss sweets there, in between an imaginary uncle to whom I still owe money - my spam folder is bursting at the seams every day. Around half of the world's e-mail traffic can be attributed to spam. 30 percent of it is sent from Russia. While advertisements are simply annoying, emails with fraudulent intentions are in the really unpleasant category. Especially as these are now really well done and in some cases can hardly be distinguished from regular, serious emails. Just recently, an e-mail from Andreas Holzer, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, "fluttered in".